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Page 206
Before he could recover from his surprise and take hold of her, she was gone. She called through the door to the room where her maids slept, sending one for bandages, another for cold water. She ordered also that two men be roused to bring more cold water every little while.
''Can you go so far as the bed?" Alinor asked while the maids threw on their clothing, "or should I tell them to send up some men to carry you?"
"What bed?" Ian asked bemusedly. Had Alinor kissed him? So swift had it been that he wondered now if he had willfully imagined it when she merely bent over him.
"My bed," Alinor replied. "Aubery de Vere is in yours."
"Oxford?" Ian exclaimed, totally mystified. "What is he doing here? Did you invite him?"
"Salisbury brought him, but I did not wish to ask why. I only thanked him for doing us such honor. Well, I could not ask an unexpected and uninvited guest why he had come, could I?"
"No, of course not. But did he not say anything? Surely"
"He might have done so, but I was more exercised to find a place to put him and his servants than to press for explanations which I knew he would give you without asking."
"So that was why you sent so urgently. Yes, I see. Thank you."
That was not why Alinor had sent Beorn to look for Ian, but she did not bother to correct him, merely asked again about carrying him to bed.
"You cannot have a herd of servants tramping back and forth and waking everyone," he replied irritably. "Let me rest a little and I will make shift to get there, but why can I not sleep here on a pallet. Really, I am tired enough to sleep on the stone floor without the pallet."
"Because I do not wish to spend the whole night on

 
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